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Reasons you left the LDS church.

Says the guy who always talks about the LDS church and it's members in a condescending way.

You don't think the idea of so loudly and proudly proclaiming "ONE AND ONLY TRUE CHURCH ON EARTH" with an emphasis on proselytizing like the church has is inherently condescending? I'm not saying this is an LDS patent, either.

And having spent 17 years going to church (and having a wonderful family that is overwhelmingly LDS), I am not naive nor ignorant on the matter.
 
I just want to point out that being an inactive member with doubts is not the same thing - or even close - to calling BS on the whole thing and leaving it to the curb. When you're inactive with doubts, there is a lot of cognitive dissonance that has to be resolved in order to approach happiness. The context and frame of your experiences, thoughts, and new information is also very different than after you just make a decision - one way or another - and move on.

True. There is a big difference.

Nice post.
 
You don't think the idea of so loudly and proudly proclaiming "ONE AND ONLY TRUE CHURCH ON EARTH" with an emphasis on proselytizing like the church has is inherently condescending? I'm not saying this is an LDS patent, either.

And having spent 17 years going to church (and having a wonderful family that is overwhelmingly LDS), I am not naive nor ignorant on the matter.

I think we take things how we want to take them. If member of the LDS faith believe it is true, then they are just stating facts as they know them.
It can be done in an "I'm better than you" way, but it can also be done in a way that it's just fact.

Of course I want to go to a church that I feel has more of the "truth" than the other churches out there. If I believed in God and believed he was backing a church, it would be dumb on my part if I did not follow through with that belief. Of course if someone has something of value in their eyes they are willing to share it with others. It would be selfish and greedy to hold back something of value, especially if sharing it didn't harm you in any way and you could see how it helped many people.

If you believe these things, you see it as sharing something of value, and stating the truth.

If you don't believe it you see it as someone that has been duped pretend they are better than you.

It all depends on your perspective, and on what you want to see.
 
This board has helped my narrow mindedness out so much. The thing I can't stress the most that would make this world a better place, regardless of beliefs, is tolerance.

That is a very safe thing to say. Not many would disagree. But what exactly is tolerance?
 
Not any more than atheist telling people who believe in god that it's made up and BS.
When you catch me actively trying to convince people to not go to church, then draw that comparison all you want. You won't, because I haven't.

And in case there's any confusion, my stating my beliefs does not qualify as proselytization.

EDIT: let me start over

I don't think you'll catch many atheists telling people outright that they should stop going to church. I can't speak for anyone else, though.

And in case there's any confusion, a person stating their beliefs does not qualify as proselytization and I've never heard of an atheist missionary. Maybe there are people that go door to door preaching the gospel of atheism or shouting from street corners, but I've never heard of nor encountered one.
 
I don't believe what I want. I'm actually fond of a version of God as described by Jehovah's Witnesses. I accept what I see as real, regardless of what I want.
No I mean in regards to being ok with how others believe. A better way might be to say I can't understand how someone who is religious says "To each their own". Like you have found salvation in a religion and someone else found it in theirs and you are ok with that.
 
It's a perfect religion full of imperfect people. That's why Salty isn't a member. You can't be perfect.
 
It's a perfect religion full of imperfect people. That's why Salty isn't a member. You can't be perfect.

I'm not sure I'm following what little logic there is in this post.

So are you perfect yet? Or does that only happen after you're dead?
 
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